Starts out promising, with a very old-school sounding galloping riff and solid drumming. Frankly, I was surprised to find out this band weren't from the 80's. Hardly original, but something you can bang your head to. The melodic leads scattered throughout are quite nice, and the solo is decent, but that riff plays for an awful lot of the song, and it does get repetitive. Unfortunately, the vocalist sucks. He has no range or power whatsoever. Now, I understand a lot of the NWOBHM bands they're paying tribute to had mediocre vocalists, but the point still stands - he can't sing. About two-thirds of the way through, something happens - the drums drop out briefly, an acoustic guitar comes in, and a very cool melodic guitar solo plays over a keyboard background and some heavy drum fills. I gotta say, that part is really quite something. Sadly, this still leads into the same old gallop to end the song. That section displays that the band definitely has talent, and they could do something unique by better integrating their NWOBHM fixation with the atmospheric sections, but they've got a fair way to go yet. (Step 1: Fire the singer.)

Wasn't sure what to expect upon seeing the band name (what's a twelve boar?) but when the fuel-soaked riffage starts kickin' in y'all, y'know what we got 'ere. Don't know (or care) what bayou they're from, because they wouldn't either, and is very far removed from my usual tastes that is certain, but it does rock out. This is full of oily, sweaty energy with damn solid, punchy drum work and rock'n'rollish, blues derived riffs. Definitely more heavy rock than metal to my ears, with those gravelly vocals and licks, with prominent bass rumbling underneath. But unfortunately for me this just doesn't move me an inch - sure it's well put together, and carries the energy and momentum well throughout, it just feels... like a stock rock song, one I would hear on the radio (as an example), and think nothing twice about. Not bad, just not outstanding either.

Right, fairly abrasive stuff. Blast-heavy, aggressive... pretty much what you'd expect from the bands name, right? I always felt "X-witch" band names were better suited to heavy metal bands (Angel Witch, Stormwitch and countless others). Obviously, for a death metal band the name "Deathwitch" is appropriately generic and so is the material. They're not short on gusto and certainly not lacking in energy, but it falls far short where it really matters: as this song sorely lasts any real staying power. There are approximately 200,000 "old school death metal revival" acts currently active (file under: historical re-enactment metal) and Deathwitch are one of 'em. That's all I really have to say about this... *yawn*.

Woo, some good ol' fashioned 80's speed metal! I haven't heard of this band, but really feel like I should have. This basically has everything you could want in a track like this, which is really helped out by the raw production - really gives it that "old school" quality that you can't get even with modern "raw" production. The guitar riffs throughout are brilliant, with two amazing shredding solos and some cool effects work in the pre-chorus. The rhythm section helps out here, with some nice solid backup work from the bass and a pounding drum line. The vocals aren't technically great, mostly sticking to a midrange shout, but it's absolutely perfect for this kind of music. You can just tell the band's having fun all throughout this track. It rocks. What else do you need?

Very melodic start! guitar harmony's going at it! high vocals and low! has a very Gothic feel! this band sounds to me as though cradle of filth got some balls and made a good song again! really loving it reminds me of my stint with the Gothic side of black metal! love the tremolo guitar riffs! i have never heard this band before definitely something to add to my collection! the solo is very thrash style shred which i didn't expect! my favorite part of this is the riff at the end total sick! real awesome way to end a song!!

Cancer - Body CountWhile I'm aware of the influence and importance of Cancer in death/thrash, this kind of song is exactly why I never really liked any of their output. It's a competent enough of a piece, but it feels bland. The guitar tone comes off as too fuzzy and loses any sense of bite. It feels like the entire song has every intention of being faster, but is just a couple beats too slow. There are moments with cool riffage, but all it does is make me want to put on Death's Leprosy or SBG.

A more lively Grief stomps the same old heavy ground with this one off their "Torso" record. After the first two records, I absolutely gave up on this band because as crushing and tear-your-guts-out-in-anguish as it all was, it was also dourly one dimensional and not that memorable, not to mention the constant let's-pummel-the-listener-with-FEEDBACKKKKKKK. But this here song is rather more focused and quite fun in a way that'll appeal to stoners and sludgers alike.

One of the best songs on Ancient Dreams, and a prime example of everything that makes Candlemass great. The intro riffing here is a bit faster and less sinister than a lot of the other songs on this album, but I don't mind that at all, because the main riff is... well, just listen to it. It's awesome. Lars Johansson puts out one of his best solos, soaring over the top of the slowest and most crushing section of the song. But the true star of the show is Messiah Marcolin, wailing away passionately, showing off his operatic range and really taking it to something that truly deserves the title of "epic doom". The atmospheric section around 5:45 stops it from becoming monotonous, and, combined with Messiah's vocals, it turns it into something hauntingly beautiful. Once again, Candlemass pump out another great song.

This starts out really fuckin' cool. Laid back seventies influenced, fuzzy distorted riffs, invoking bad film clips involving cheap effects riddled with splashes of random colour. But then, everything is mutilated by the howling teenager on vocals with a terrible grasp of where the microphone is. The music is quite a decent descent into fuzzed-out, fat, overdriven quasi jamming riffage, which moves about it business in it's own inimitable way. Thankfully the horrible vocals are very minimal, and that's strong point for this track, otherwise it would be utterly ruined. Sabbath influences aside though, I really don't see the attraction to this, as it's just not entirely captivating. It would be if you are perhaps nailed to a sofa on some heavy skunk or similar (maybe), but otherwise it's the same old stoner standard affair I'm afraid.

This is grim but subtle. The dark undercurrents are so severe but they don''t need to be highlighted. They have a creeping and quiet nature but are pernicious in intent. Eventually, it all boils to the surface but in the most tasteful way possible...this is Death Metal that lingers after it has left. Armoured Angel are considered among the "first wave" but this maintains a far more superior bite than Morbid Angel and their American contemporaries could conjure. The guitar work is taut and insistent to the very end and the vocals seem to ascend from the pits of hell!

What would happen if you crossed Grave Digger with Manowar? I'm not entirely certain I want to know, but this comes close. We start of with a sombre intro for about half a minute, a simple, fluent melody for about half a minute, the kind of thing that come to think of it probably wouldn't be out of place for Grave Digger! We then get a short, simple, mid-paced bass lead leading into some lumbering, slow riffs before the bass returns and melds with the guitars, and the guitars drop out and we're left with more bass riffing and narrating, soft (as soft as this guy can go) vocals - again imagine the Digger combined with Manowar...say, if they covered "Warriors of the World" or a similar such song. After this...not much happens really, it's a relatively repetitive and lurking sort of song. Bolte-...ah, sorry, Babuschkin repeatedly yells something about ashes and we get almost haphazard - though not inappropriate - guitar leads thrown in now and again. My first impressions may be prone to hyperbole, because this guy's certainly cleaner than Boltendahl, a technically more competent singer, though not quite as vitriolic (might be for the better with this kind of song), and the song is less repetitive and stale than "Warriors of the World", and for what it's worth I really quite enjoy the strong drive and presence of the bass guitar. Everything appears relatively simple, weren't it for the desolate atmosphere it'd be very anthemic. Drums are providing a big and epic backbone, but not appearing to do anything other than keep the beat. It's not a bad song in itself, but it doesn't have a lot of fire to it, it seems like it would fit much better within an album as a whole than as a stand-alone song, because as this it fails to stick. It seems almost like an anthemic or an epic doom song by a band that isn't used to writing anthems, or epic doom.

I did, however, enjoy the production in its muffled glory. I was a bit shocked to see this was released in the second half of the '90s, because it has that subdued loudness to it that wouldn't be out of place on a power/thrash record from 20, 30 years ago.

Tad Morose are a band I'm in general not a big fan of and I think they're more of a song than album band. Anyway, this song is ok...speedy, if generic riffs that recall Judas Priest and a gruff vocal duet goes ok although Urban Breed (who's an excellent vocalist by the way) really outsings the other dude (random guess...the guy from Morgana Lefay?). The chorus gets carried by Urban's melodic, strong vocals which fortunately does quite redeem the song. Nontheless I feel this song is decent but really not great. Urban Breed is an amazing vocalist and definitely the best member of this band but he alone can't save the entire band, not to mention this band have far better songs.

I remember hearing about this band when i was into Kamelot before since it was Roy Khan's prior band. One thing that got me bored of Kamelot was I found Roy carried the band with his great vocals, but musically, it go boring rather quickly. This has abit more progressive influence mixed with power metal and alot more interesting than kamelot so far. The bass work is very good and drumming is cool. I like the instrumental section just over the 4 minute mark that is followed by rather impressive leads and some good drum fills. The guitars continue to impress with some Flamenco style accoustic sections that add some variety and still fit with the song. The singing of course is done great as Roy is on normal form. I enjoyed the song, and will probably listen to some more of this album, thanks

I'm not very familiar with this band, but when I opened the video I expected something very different, since the songs I've listened to this band were way more brutal. The song is good overall, but I'd appreciate it more if the production was a bit cleaner and powerful. The vocals sound to me like goregrind or some sort at times. The drums sound interesting but they sound very thin, for this kind of music I'd expect the drums at least to sound very heavy. The distorted bass is a nice addition to the overall raw sound of this song.

Instant recognition. As soon as I blindly opened the tab for this, and that familiar, almost back-masked incantation was uttered through my headphones, I knew exactly what was on offer. This is a pure classic, from the colossal, frigid and amazing production, to the superior song craft, it is easily one of the best metal songs to be committed to cd. The blistering opening tremolo is furious, and caustically melodic, a trademark of Dissection, that sets the stage for the verses to entrance you with the litany of hate. When the middle section is reached with that glorious acoustic bridge, the hairs on my neck snap to attention - combined with the singular King Diamond-esque falsetto that follows it, and the clean vocal chorus, you have pure, unadulterated, metal perfection. This is eight minutes of sublime Swedish mastery of both black and death metal, one that I never tire of hearing. Stunning.

well, being Canadian, i feel an obligation to know about the metal bands here, but this is one I am not too familiar with. I guess they only have one EP from last year, so I don't feel too bad The intro is good...a slow, repetitive and dark sounding until one heavy riff steps in. The guitar tone is interesting, almost sounds off key but creates abit of an ambient sound but not as drone like. the bridge at 2:40 was nice as if had continued I may have gotten tired of it. The vocals fit this style, but I can't say I enjoy them too much. The drumming does offer some variation and there are some elements I like, but this style of Black Metal just isn't my thing unfortunately.

With an album cover that looks like this one does, as well as the few seconds or so of the song, one might expect this to be a slow, majestic trip through a grim, winter land. Nope. This is a cold, raw, blistering, and almost thrashy affair that sounds more like second-wave Norwegian black metal than even some of that movement's staples. The guitars, are, as one might expect, mostly tremolo-picked riffs, but they're pretty melodic and pretty likely to stick in your mind when you're done here. The drummer has two speeds: Black metal blast mode, and a more thrash-oriented speed which you see mostly in the first half of the song. Speaking of thrash, I'm going to go right ahead and say that the vocalist sounds exactly like the guy from Skeletonwitch. The same raspy, but decipherable voice does wonders here. The production job done here is exactly how raw black metal should be done: No instrument is too clear or dominant, but everything can be heard perfectly fine. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting something this amazing when I clicked that link. I think I'm in love.

I used to listen to tons of Skeletonwitch before I entered this board. Don't know why that habit wore off, as this sounds as great as the last time I listened to it. What we have here is the Osseous Sorceress at it's best (after all, it's Beyond the fucking Permafrost we're talking about) churning out it's now signature brand of melodically oriented black/thrash. The guitar work, as always, is the highlight, intermixing sublime yet frigid and relentless tremolos with carnivorous, early Kreator-esque thrashing lunacy. For real, Scott Hedrick and Nate Garnette are a force to be reckoned with in this album, being the forgers of some of the most excellent riffs you'll hear in modern day extreme metal. Now, holding the mic we have Nate's brother, Chance, who relies mostly on a poisonous rasp to ragefully spit the blasphemous lyrics, although we also have an ominous growled passage because hey, why the hell not? The rhythm section drives the song along just fine. They aren't flashy, and they don't need to be, as it's pretty clear who the spotlight belongs to in this band. Guess I can't say much, eh? Speedy black/thrash with a few Dissection-esque tendencies when it comes to melodies and a great sense for compact, punchy songwriting. In other words, awesome music.

This song's chorus is now ingrained in my brain. Listen under your own risk.

_________________

Nochielo wrote:

Crick wrote:

Years from now, no one will remember Gandhi. They will speak only of Fenriz.

Goddamnit Lex, I envy you. I'd love to sit down and have a beer with one of the Skeletonwitch members. Or one of the Vektor members. Or Symphony X members, while we're at it..... But yeah, you're one lucky bastard.

_________________

Nochielo wrote:

Crick wrote:

Years from now, no one will remember Gandhi. They will speak only of Fenriz.

The riffs have very little to go on in terms of overall power its just flaccid modern prog riffs that deviate little throughout the song, apart from the slower break right around 2:50 before the Middle Eastern instrumental stuff. The vocals themselves possess little range I'm not seeing any sort of power apart from just repeating the chorus, the only deviation from his lack of range is that laughable out of place "go" before the main riff stops. Not much else to say the riffs are dull modern prog riffs and the vocals are about as dull as a paper bag, well at least you could be playing something worse I guess.

Death metal to be had here, one with that characteristic, heavy, crushing tone. Plunged straight into a descending tremolo riff immediately followed by some sludgy, plodding palm-muted heaviness, which isn't bad, and something similar to my tastes indeed, despite not having checked them out (though they have been on my radar for a while). This is dark death metal, being a competent mixture of Dawn Of Possession and some slight Barathrum era Absu moments (especially the first riff). Tempos range from slow'n'heavy to blasting passages in between. There is also strong emphasis on the low guttural vocals, which are nothing that stand out, but they perform their job well, and they fluctuate between these low vocals and some higher register screams in a quasi black metal way. I wouldn't say this is top tier material, but it is certainly good if you like this particular style of death metal, and being slightly derivative is not a detractor for them, as it works in their favour. The keyboard sections are used in a tasteful manner as well, adding extra hints of darkness within the shadows. Solid, at times crushing dark death metal.

I truly apologise for the poor sound on this, but I can't find a better quality copy of this on YT, so please listen to this with headphones if possible for the full effect.

Why is this referred to as "death metal"?It has that desperate and abysmal vibe associated with earliest Darkthrone and is all the more enjoyable for that. The vocals are the best thing actually. They are guttural, insistent and full of hail and gloom but in such a darkly mighty way. The production is of course charmingly awful but I wouldn't have it any other way. The guitars and drum coordination is very typical Death fare in the vein of Deicide, Autopsy, et al but the whole thing is governed by an overwhelming sense of crush and decimation more akin to Black metal.I am listening to this again for sure and getting that "Invocation Of Death" compilation!

Make sure you get the Voidbound ep, as it contains that brilliant song (re-recorded), a cover of "Cromlech", and the Unearthed demo. Ván records have it in stock, and I'm glad you liked it as much as I do! Fucking fantastic abysmaldeathmetal!

There's a warbly frantic energy to the song that somewhat obfuscates that it's actually pretty mid-paced--somewhat reminiscent of Grave Digger's style. Sadly, it seems there's something really wrong with the mixing; the vocals are too soft and the drums are too loud, so a minute or so into the song, the repetitiousness drumming really begins to wear on one's patience. The constant transitions to the whispery attempt at a growl are also a bit disappointing. On the bright side, the song is chock-full of entertaining solos that do take-away from its flaws. Overall, a pretty decent cut of power/heavy metal, but not memorable enough to get me to seek out more material by this band.

Old school thrash leaning to the side of the heavier, rawer style. Fairly straightforward with some solid riffs...however, maybe I've just listened to alot of thrash, but I don't really hear anything that makes them stand out from any other band. For the most part, this is mid-tempo and chugs along...in some ways reminds me of Infernal Majesty. The section at 4:50 speeds up and is a welcome break. The solo is good, but its a little late in the song and wished some of the higher tempo stuff was earlier on. The drumming keeps time, but doesn't add anything else to the song. So all in all, its solid thrash but nothing that really stands out to me as extraordinary.

Reviewing another black metal song (though it's folky this time) in order to revive the thread for great justice.

It's got very clear production. The harsh vocals hit that sweet spot of being abrasive and aggressive without being grating, while the clean vocal sections offer momentary peace. The guitars have an almost Dick Dale vibe to them, continually being picked in a similar fashion, and the outro solo makes good use of this style. Sure, it's seems like plain ol' tremolo picking, but I just can't shake off the feeling that Dick Dale would be proud. It's a pretty neat song with a pretty neat sound, and that's all I have to say about that.

"The Knowing" is as far as I can judge, is the best Novembers Doom album and this is one of the eleven reasons why. The whole album is thick and heavy with multiple shades of gloom. Those who dismiss most doom bands as one-dimensional should quickly check this out. "In Memories Past" opens with the line The scent of you is always on my mind and closes with In this darkest hour I'm alone and I guess you can pretty much guess what lies in between. What you can't anticipate is the somber air Paul Kuhr crafts with his voice. Many have compared him to that Michael guy from Opeth but Paul's voice incites depths where the Opeth guy's only calls opaqueness. There's a lovable Progressive side to this song (and indeed with the whole album) that I found endearing and which keeps things interesting. Highly recommended!

I'm really not a huge fan of Awake nor am I a person who worships Dream Theater but I can appreciate this track. It starts off with a moody guitar wail that gets backed up by James LaBrie's calm vocals. Around 2:10 the heaviness kicks with a catchy simple riff. LaBrie goes into screaming mode which I wish he also did on Images and Words but sadly that wasn't the case. Anyway, his bursting out powerful high notes that definitely do justice to the song. The song flows well going from soft to heavier sections quite naturally but then I got bored for a while by the calmer sections that weren't really needed. Petrucci eventually comes in with a little shredding on his guitar which still doesn't do anything for me until the dreamy ending melody redeems.

Final verdict: enjoyable, but way too overlong. (Although I'd say this counts for more Dream Theater songs.) It could have been much more.

This classic slab of Steele is mine to review! So back off!Thank you colin040, the Dutch veteran with great taste

Virgin Steele nailed it on all accounts with this tune. It is epic in terms of atmosphere and delivery and constantly held up by many, myself included, as one of the top VS songs. Heavy synthing opens it up creating a rather dramatic scene which is amplified further by Edward Pursino's guitar theatrics and then comes David DeFeis in several clouds of rage and dark ambition, clothed in the might and majesty of Agamemnon. It races on, never faltering for over seven minutes, grand atmosphere intact and the guitar solo is truly MAJESTIC. I always recommend that the Atreus material be listened to in its entirety as it is then more coherent and meaningful. But go ahead, treat yourself. Fewer and fewer power metal songs are this POWERFUL!

Man, this takes me back. I haven't listened to Iron Fire in a long time, but I don't really remember them being so... ridiculous? I realize power metal generally has an unhealthy addiction to awfully cheesy lyrics, but for the first twenty seconds I was convinced that this was a Tenacious D song. I mean really: "The magic will never cease / The metal troops will increase"? And the chorus is "Raise the metal fist in the air"? I generally don't prescribe that much importance to lyrics especially in power metal, but this is just distracting. On second listen, the rest of the instruments are actually horrendously boring. Yeah the drumming is solid, but you could just have the vocal tracks and the drums and I doubt the song would sound much different. Yeah there's a pretty good solo down the line, but you have to get through a lot of "metal-fist raising" to get to it and it disappears pretty damn quickly to give way to more "metal-fist raising". This is an awful, awful song and is part of why to this day people think metal is juvenile.

The intro riff begins with this symphonic/neoclassical guitar intro and a drum fill that complements the grandiose buildup, and the guitars go from the epic galloping intro to prog-esque chugging nonsense with keyboard interplay sparsed inbetween the riff and odd vocals. The vocalist himself doesn't really standout he's a decent singer, and I actually prefer him to some of the cheesy Mago De Oz-esque choral vocals in the background. There is obviously a lot going on in the song and it makes up for what is ultimately generic europower riffs, the drumming itself is probably the most active non-symphonic instrumental. I feel as if he's not going full power because the riffs are so timid, and he's just keeping the pace amid grand symphonic arrangements and weak vocals. Closing the song are cheesy female vocals and lute instrumentals and it really just adds to what is a lackluster song, its not terrible compared to some of Mago De Oz's awful hard rock moments and overdone ideas but I feel like its just a filler track.

Realm, a band which I consider, in a way, to be strictly related to Toxik, for both share a demented, frantic approach to speed/thrash which is also linked to more technical and progressive leanings. The material at hand is very melodic, yes, but also possessed by a strong feeling of urgency. Actually, everything here is maniacal in nature. Guitars cut through the airwaves like sonic scalpels, both searing and precise. They're a delight not only for a fan of metal, but also for anyone who enjoys technically sound performances that don't rely in pointless flashiness and actually go somewhere. The vocals might be a bit of a divisive factor though, as they're very shrill and the singer's young age is very notable, but for a fan of Halford-esque screamers like me? They fit in perfectly in the raging mix of melodic thrash and progressive flourishes. Finally, we have the rhythm section which, while not as impressive as the guitars, it's still pretty entertaining by the mere fact that it's capable of following them. I like the bass in particular, which has sort of a metallic "popping" sound not unlike that of D.D. Verni during the early days of Overkill. Finally, the songwriting is nothing short of masterful, especially considering how young the band was when this album was realeased. The piece itself doesn't even reach the four minute mark, yet it has quite a few different (not to mention distinctive) sections and tons of riffs, all of them perfectly cohesive. Nothing feels even remotely out of place or stitched together, and melodic hooks are aplenty.

Once again I find myself matched with a fairly well known band to most people, but to be honest, despite the recommendations etc I never got into this band. That's not to say that I didn't listen to this song several times with an open mind. They pretty much delivered what I was expecting - some clean vox over a relatively slow tempo, and I was diggin' it for the first 45 seconds until some synths kicked in (and it sounds like he's singing about "Viagra" - although that may or may not be fact, lol. Anyway, for the next few minutes there is a lot of electronic background noise, picture a guy at a sound desk.

Long story short, I could grow to be a fan of this track, but for now the keyboards and random synth noises kinda spoil it for me. I don't mind the clean vocals at all, whoever he is doesn't sound too dissimilar to Mike from Opeth. Maybe it is him, I have no idea. If only there were some kind of metal archives where I could look this kinda shit up.

Well, I'm going to state that although I'm getting into death and grind, it's usually a hit or miss for me. What's to say about this particular song? This gives up a lot of old-school vibes, but I can't help but to think that I've just heard this before. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like there a lot of bands like these guys. It is kind of slow tempo, although around the middle it gets a bit faster. I like the ending. It's kind of a surprise because it turns out to be this nice European-style, acoustic folk. Can totally see death metal dudes into this.